


Pursuit of Knowledge

by ParaducksSpace



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Cuddling, F/F, Fluff, Kisses, Power Armor shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 06:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13944777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParaducksSpace/pseuds/ParaducksSpace
Summary: The Mass Fusion building, now devoid of gunners, had an eerie and dark emptiness to it. The pair walked through the halls that were only filled with the rhythmic pace of Ellian’s armored boots clanking against the bent and exposed metal and the occasional creak of the old metal threatening to fall. The duo had become accustomed to the empty, fallout damaged structures but this one seemed too large and too empty to be comfortable





	Pursuit of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> I love Piper and Ive been writing this for a very long time  
> Sosu is named Ellian and I love her as well  
> \--edit--  
> it seems my slow computer made this post 3 separate times, which is wild, but here it is, the one and only

Piper looked out across the bright lights of Diamond City at night. It sure was nice to know that the world was just a little bit safer now that the Institute was gone, Valentine was successful in his agency, and people around the commonwealth finally had a stable supply of food and water thanks to a well supported trade route system, but she still felt like something else needed to be done. The lights in Diamond City shined a bit brighter now that Mayor McDonough was dead and ghouls had slowly begun to reenter the city, but something still felt unfinished. Taking a slow drag of her cigarette, Piper looked up at the empty stands from the upper balcony of Home Plate. She just wanted to fix something, anything, just to see if she felt more complete when it would be done and over with. With that thought, she sighed and put her cigarette out on a rusted out and bent bit of metal beside her before standing up. She bent and popped her joints, feeling a brief sense of relief in her hips and spine as the exhaustion from the day began to set in. She yawned once, long and loudly, before grabbing a hold of the rusted handle of the hatch that led back inside.

Inside, Ellian was busy working on her power armor. It was a new fixation of hers, trying to get everything exactly right - to an almost obsessive manner. The tall black armor towered in the corner of where the warehouse met the living room, Ellian positioned to face the hatch for when Piper came back inside. As the hatch clanged open and shut, she tilted her head to the side to watch Piper descend the stairs to their bedroom. She smiled as Piper picked up an old blanket from off the bed and wrapped herself in it. Soon enough she was surrounded by a mass of warm blankets before even taking off her boots.

“Are you coming to bed anytime soon?” Piper called, nestled on the mattress in a cocoon of blankets. Her face seemed small from within the mountain of blankets, her nose and cheeks still red from the cold outdoor air.

“Yeah, babe. I’ve just got to finish one more thing with this set here. I found out a really cool technique from the scientists in Nuka World and I think it just might do the trick.” Ellian said, tightening a bolt on the side of the bright blue jetpack affixed to the black armor. The color contrast was striking and bright, but the suit wasn’t exactly built for stealth, unlike everything else Ellian had created beforehand.

“Do you think it’ll finally work for your mystery project that you don’t want to tell me about?” Piper called, looking over the edge of the mound of blankets at the improvements that had been made to the armor in the last hour or so. She wasn’t going to lie to herself, she was always impressed when Ellian made anything, but the suit looked powerful. Ellian had a certain way with her hands, calloused and small, but steady and precise.. Almost anything could be bent to her will and made into something both creative and functional with just a bit of time and love.

“I think it just might. We can try it as soon as I’m finished affixing the jetpack and making sure the power unit and fuel tanks are easily accessible and won't blow up mid flight. But that might take a few more hours of tinkering and a bit of testing in a real world scenario. Plus I still need to get fuel for the damn thing. Ran out of fusion cores and Nukas trying to test everything out while stationary. Either way, it’ll probably be a few more hours. I can probably stop outside and see if the shop has any cores. The robot should be out by now, right? He’s much nicer to me, anyways.” Ellian smiled as she tightened a few bolts on the other side of the jetpack then leaned back to measure their distance in relation to the rest of the armor pieces.

“After sleep, Elle. Remember that? Sleeping is an important part of a hero’s day.” Piper said, trying to catch Ellian’s eyes over the blanket mound and around the power armor stand.

Ellian looked up through the leg structure before putting the plating back on and locks eyes with Piper. The pleading look in Piper’s eyes made Ellian’s heart wrench. The sheet of black metal was set on the concrete, the bolts clinking,together inside,of the bowl it made. She stood up and cracked a few joints in her back and hips before lazily making her way to bed. Ellian smiled at Piper before flopping down next to her massive form currently being encased in blankets. Ellian buried her face against Piper’s partially exposed neck and smiled, giving it a small kiss before beginning to doze off against the warm mass of girlfriend and blankets.

 

“So let me get this straight.” Piper started, following quickly after Ellian’s large power armor encased form over the rubble of ruined structure and building debris that covered what once was roads through the town. “You want to try to get to the top of the Mass Fusion building because you saw an open room while in the elevator.”

“Exactly.” Ellian said, looking over her shoulder at Piper. Her face was hidden behind the metal helmet, but Piper knew she had a giant,smile on her face inside it.

Piper sighs and shook her head, but smiled as well and followed Ellian across the wasteland.

 

The Mass Fusion building, now devoid of gunners, had an eerie and dark emptiness to it. The pair walked through the halls that were only filled with the rhythmic pace of Ellian’s armored boots clanking against the bent and exposed metal and the occasional creak of the old metal threatening to fall. The duo had become accustomed to the empty, fallout damaged structures but this one seemed too large and too empty to be comfortable. Ellian began looking around for a specific room as the duo came to the final accessible floor.

“Damn it.” She mumbled, looking at the only unopened door on the floor. “It’s gotta be through here.”

“Do you need some help doll?” Piper asked, pulling a bobby pin off of the edge of her press cap.  

“Yeah. I didn’t know how difficult it would be to do such simple tasks in this fucking armor. One thing, though is that I do now know exactly how to stay hidden from the Brotherhood forever - tight corridors and lots of locked doors.”

Piper giggled softly, kneeling down in front of the door. It took her a few moments of spinning the bobby pin around to find the sweet spot, but finally the door gave a soft  _ click _  and swung open.

The room before them was devoid of life and filled with rubble. Light filtered in from a hole in the ceiling, illuminating the rubble directly below it.

“Aha! I knew it was here somewhere!” Ellian said, stomping into the room to stand just below the hole.

“What’s ‘here’ doll? What are we looking for?”

Ellian was looking up through the hole before taking out her sniper and putting the scope to her visor.

“I still can’t even see it from down here. Ready to go higher?” She looked back at Piper, putting the rifle back over her back.

Piper looked at Ellian wearily, but stepped forwards.

“How?”

Ellian knelt down and interlocked her fingers. She looked over at Piper and Piper could almost swear she saw Ellian's eyes behind the dark lenses.

“I’m going to lift you.”

“What?” Piper started, pointing to the hole in the ceiling. “Up there?”

“Exactly. Now come on hon, we haven’t got all day.” Ellian lowered her hands again so that Piper could step into the interlocked gloves.

Piper sighed and stepped into Ellian’s gloves. She turned and placed a kiss on the helmet before whispering to Ellian.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

Ellian gave a small chuckle before lifting, helping Piper reach the hole in the ceiling enough so that she could grab ahold of the edge to climb through.

“You good up there doll?” Ellian called, giving Piper a thumbs up.

A few moments passed before Piper poked her head over the edge and gave a responding thumbs up.

“Alright Pipes, back up. I’m comin’ up.”

Ellian waits until Piper gives the okay before powering up the jetpacks on her power armor. The rush of heat at her back is almost comforting as she lifts through the air. Ellian’s boots clanking against the ground are almost as loud as her hysterical laughter. When she releases the jets, her hands immediately go to her helmet. She pulls it up and off, letting it clank to the ground as she rushes Piper. Ellian pulls Piper into her arms and spins her around, laughing loud enough that the empty building almost feels lived-in.

“Baby! Piper, doll, I just flew! Honey I was flying!” Ellian’s laughter was contagious, her cheeks bright and her smile wide.

“I know you did, doll! I know! I’m glad it works!” Piper smiled, moving her hands to rest on Ellian’s cheeks.

Ellian surged forwards and kissed Piper, excitement buzzing through her body. It was a smooth and practiced kiss, both full of love and energy and they both smiled when they pulled apart.

“Let’s go explore.” Ellian said, smiling with a new fire in her eyes.

The two picked over what they could of the accessible floors before their bags were full of spare ammo and bottles of glue.

“Alright, Piper. Are we ready to try it out?” Ellian said, climbing back into her suit of power armor.

“If you think you’re up for it, doll.” Piper said, giving the chestpiece of the armor a knock for good luck.

“Yeah. I think I’m ready.” Ellian squared up along the back corner of the room where she saw the room. She jumped from floor to floor slowly and carefully. Every few floors, she called down at Piper, giving her a thumbs up. The few things she looted from the rooms she reached, she dropped down to Piper, being careful with the heavier things.

Eventually, Ellian reached the highest climable floor. There was a door with some good loot, and she was satisfied with her pickings, but when she looked up, she spotted a couple of openings in the higher offices.

She parked her power armor in the small room before writing a small note to Piper.

 

_ Hey _

_ Everything's clear up here but there are two farther up. harder to get to and my armor is running out of juice, but I'm so close. _

_ xoxo _

_ Ellian _

 

She folded the note into a small paper airplane before tossing it down. It luckily landed right next to Piper. She looked up at Ellian’s distant form then to the note before picking it up and giving it a quick read. Ellian couldn't judge her reaction from here, but she was determined to clean this building out. Her armor was beginning to feel warm and a little too tight, but she was so close to her new goal.

She stepped out of the room and aimed towards the nearest ledge, hoping it’d be wide enough to support her. Her landing was soft, but precious moments were spent trying to regain both balance and spatial awareness. She was getting pretty high, and he felt like she sometimes did when on the docks of the Prydwen. The nausea was a little overwhelming as she looked down, but she took a deep breath and pressed on. The longer she spent sitting here, the less time she would have on this fusion core’s power.

She made the jump to the closest of the open rooms. Inside was a ruined mess and her saving grace. Ellian’s heart was still beating quickly as she stepped out of her power armor to grab the brand new fusion core. She meticulously removed and replaced the dying one in her armor before taking a few long breaths. She climbed back in her armor and looked across to the final opening she could see. She took a deep breath before pushing, jumping across.

She barely managed to make it into the room before climbing out of her armor to take a look about. This room was much cleaner compared to the last one, and this one both had a terminal and a safe. After cracking into both and assessing her options, her heart started racing again. She sat down in the old chair to take off her old leather armor covering her legs, slipping the new armor in place. As she stood up, the legs felt springy. That gave her hope that this might actually work. She climbed back in her armor to tell Piper her findings.

The drop felt natural and familiar in her armor, and the slight shake of the glass floor beneath them seemed to shake Piper slightly.

“You’re back! What’d you find sugar?” Piper asked, hurrying over to Ellian.

Ellian slowly climbed out of the armor, letting Piper fuss over the creaks in the joints.

“I swear if you keep dropping like that eventually these are gonna break, Ellie.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Wanna see what I got?” Ellian said, lifting her bag from the ground.

“Was it everything you hoped for and more?” Piper asked, a smile on her face.

“Yeah, and I kinda wanna test ‘em out.” Ellian pointed down at her legs.

“Wait. Are those-”

“Yep.”

“They were-”

“Yep.”  

“What do they-”

“Jump out of Vertibirds"

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Wanna go try em out?”

“Absolutely.”

With a small chuckle, Piper leaned forwards and placed a kiss on Ellian’s lips. “I guess I’m gonna take the armor?” Piper anxiously moved towards the large suit Ellian just climbed out of.

“Absolutely, doll. Race you to the top.” Ellian immediately dropped and rushed towards the elevator, pushing the button over and over until it arrived. Piper was struggling to climb into the suit as the doors opened, their laughter filling the empty halls with some sort of jovial life. Empty building could be daunting and scary, Piper thought, but if there’s something to be found and fun to be had, they couldn’t all be too bad.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Hit me up on tumblr at @paraducksspace
> 
> fyi i started writing this bc i was talking to a friend who had never found the freefall legs so i Had To


End file.
